Davis admits Rangers have been poor in this season's Champions League

By Julian Taylor

It may have been September, but there was a spring in Rangers' step when they embarked on their Champions League Group G campaign.

Having avoided some of the continent's more illustrious names, only Sevilla, Stuttgart and Romanian unknowns Unirea Urzecini stood between the Light Blues' dreams of the high life - and much-needed revenue - in the knock-out stages.

What a difference a few months make, though.

Those days of cautious optimism have now been replaced by a cold, hard winter of introspection by the Ibrox players as to why they came up short.

Rangers' initial ambitions were cruelly crushed as the group unfolded - Sevilla's 1-0 win at the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium on Wednesday merely prolonging the misery - as a team lacking in character, ability and organisation were systematically picked off by each of their opponents.

Stuttgart's recent 2-0 victory at Ibrox rendered last week's trip to Spain a competitive irrelevance; a fact that unsurprisingly jarred with the club's support without even a comfort blanket of Europa League football to sustain them.

Unirea Urzecini's Pablo Brandan stunned Rangers at Ibrox

Ironically, the Germans were in the midst of their own special crisis, both domestically and in Europe's premier competition, with coach Markus Babbel paying the ultimate price.

'Die Roten', now under the charge of Christian Gross, staged a remarkable recovery to qualify for the knock-out stages at the expense of Dan Petrescu's Unirea.

The Scottish champions, on the other hand, could not summon the same determination when it truly mattered.

Lessons to be learned, perhaps?

Steven Davis, one of Rangers' more consistent performers this season, mulled over the Euro misery and tried to put things into some kind of perspective.

"When the group was announced, we felt good about it and were optimistic," he told BBC Sport.

"When the fixtures come out, everyone is desperate to play European football.

"But everything at this level is all about quality. We know we could have had a much harder draw, with a lot of the so-called bigger teams, but looking back it's been a missed opportunity really.

"It's hard to explain in some ways, but we simply haven't been good enough at home in this campaign.

"We've conceded silly goals, things have worked against us and we didn't take our chances in the games against Unirea.

"These things happen and the feeling has been one of real disappointment, but now we just have to focus on retaining the Premier League," added the 24-year-old, previously with Aston Villa and Fulham.

"It's been strange given that we went to Stuttgart and got ourselves a good result.

"The boys then went out against them at home determined to put us back into contention, but we haven't shown enough quality or consistency, which you need at this level over 90 minutes."

The relative success of Unirea - despite the loss to Stuttgart - has raised questions over why Rangers have not been able to step up and make the Champions League cut.

This notion is, in fact, particularly striking when many of the same players who drove themselves to the 2008 Uefa Cup final remain at Ibrox.

So, can Walter Smith's squad, branded Champions League flops, learn anything from the Romanians?

"We've obviously not punched our weight in the Champions League," said Davis.

Sevilla striker Fredi Kanoute scored in both ties against Rangers

"But what I know is that there are a lot of players in the dressing-room who are capable of producing a lot better in terms of consistency. We've let ourselves down."

Meanwhile, Davis's team-mate for club and country, Kyle Lafferty, insists that the Ibrox financial woes will not deflect the quest for silverware this season.

Rangers' debts are in the region of £31m and, although the club declared at the recent annual meeting that players need not necessarily be sold in January, a tangible shroud of uncertainty surrounds the long-term future with new ownership being sought.

But Lafferty knows that playing for one half of Glasgow's Old Firm brings with it the need for immediate gratification and results.

"I think that is just down to the club," the striker said of the financial situation.

"All the players and coaching staff can really do is to continue to go out and pick up the wins that we need and get to the top of the table.

"At the end of the day, I don't think what is going on in the background affects the players day to day.

"I think we have a good bunch of lads at Rangers. Everyone wants to work hard for each other and everyone wants to win together.

"You could see that spirit when we won the league and cup double last season," he added.

"Those kinds of achievements serve us well and help to spur us on. Hopefully, we can go on and do the same this season too.

"The support Rangers have is phenomenal, worldwide. So it's only really a minor blip and it won't be long before everything is sorted out and Rangers will be much healthier."

There is a fine line between optimism and realism, as Rangers are finding out.

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